Tag Archives: Nexus 7

Android 4.2 is without a doubt one of the most buggiest release from Google ever. The latest version of Android is filled with bugs and instability issues including random reboots, minor bugs, performance issues and much more. Nexus 7 users, in particular, have been facing severe lag issues on their tablet ever since they installed the Android 4.2 update.

Thankfully, an XDA member – fishingfon – has a very simple fix for all the slowness and lags that Nexus 7 owners are facing post the Android 4.2 update. The tip is to actually disable background syncing in Google Current, which somehow magically improves the performance of the device.

To disable background syncing, simply open Google Current on your Nexus 7, press the Settings menu/the 3-dots button in the top-right corner of the app, and uncheck ‘Enable Background Syncing’ from within the Settings sub-menu.

If you don’t use Google Currents regularly, I would suggest you to simply uninstall or disable the app altogether.

Yesterday, Google rolled out the Android 4.2.1 update for the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10. The minor bump in the Android OS version does not bring any major changes except for fixing the missing December month in the People’s app.

Today, Google has pushed Android 4.2.1 to AOSP for developers to base their ROMs on the latest version of Android. While its nice to see Google fixing the December update so soon, the company should have tried to fix other issues present in Android 4.2. as well.

Android 4.2 is one of the most buggiest release ever from Google. The update is plagued with lots of bugs and stability issues including random reboots, poor performance on Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus and much more.

Google has now also started rolling out the Android 4.2.1 update for the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 7. The update was initially only available for the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10.

Yesterday, Google released the Nexus 4 in quite a few countries of the world, pushed the Android 4.2 OTA update for the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 7, released the updated binaries and Android 4.2 factory images for all the devices, and lastly, pushed the latest version of Android to AOSP.

Google’s lead AOSP engineer – Jean Baptiste Quèru – also announced that beginning with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google will be ending support for the Nexus S and the Motorola XOOM. This means that both these devices will not be getting any future updates from Google including the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update. This should not really come as a surprise since both these devices have been in the market for nearly 2 years or more. Even then, both these devices are actually running a much more newer version of Android compared to majority of the Android devices out there.

The surprising news, however, is the lack of support for the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 3G variant in AOSP. It was initially presumed that the Nexus 4 lacks LTE so that it could be AOSP-compliant, but it looks like Google is yet to convince Qualcomm to open-source its secret sauce! Or, Google might be facing some issues with open-sourcing the GSM stacks used in the Nexus 4 or the Nexus 7 3G variant.

Hopefully, whatever the issue be, Google will be able to solve it and support the Nexus 4 in AOSP.

Earlier today, Google started rolling out the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update for the Nexus 7 and the takju variant of the Galaxy Nexus i.e. the handsets that were purchased directly from Google via the Play Store. .

The Android 4.2 update will bring with it quite a lot of minor yet much-appreciated changes including quick settings in the notification bar, multiple user profiles for tablets, an updated Clock app, Gesture typing for the keyboard, pinch-to-zoom in GMail and much more.

Google is rolling out the OTA update only in certain regions of the world and to limited number of Nexus 7s and Galaxy Nexus out there, so don’t expect the OTA update to be available immediately for you. The final OTA update also includes lock screen widgets that was missing in all the Nexus 4 review unit.

Google usually keeps a new version of Android exclusive to the Nexus handset for a couple of weeks before it pushes the update to other devices and the code to AOSP. However, this time Google has decided otherwise, and pushed the Android 4.2 OTA update on the same day it released the Nexus 4 in a bunch of countries.

When ASUS announced the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10, it also dropped the price of the 16GB Nexus 7 to $199 and introduced a new 32GB variant of the tablet for $249. Nexus 7 owners who got the tablet recently must have felt pretty cheated by this move from Google. There are only a few things in life worse than seeing a device that you recently purchased, get a hefty price cut.

Thankfully, ASUS has announced that Nexus 7 owners will get a free ₤25 coupon via which they can purchase anything from the ASUS Shop online store. The offer is only valid for Nexus 7 tablets purchased by October 29th from either retail stores or from an online website. ASUS does not state as to which variants of the tablet are eligible for the offer or the purchasing date. Anyways, head over to this website if you live in Europe or the U.K to register for the offer.

For Nexus 7 owners who got their tablet directly from Google’s Play Store, things are even better. The Play Store actually has a Price Protection policy, which states that if Google reduces the price of a device on Google Play, it will actually refund the difference in price to the user. The Policy, however, is only valid for devices purchased within 15 days since the price reduction took place. Also, users will need to apply for the price protection policy within 15 days of the price reduction taking place.

This means that if you purchased a Nexus 7 from Google’s Play Store on or after October 14th, you are currently eligible for a refund from Google. Head over to this page to register for the policy and get your money back!

After months of speculation and rumors, it looks like ASUS and Google are finally bringing the Nexus 7 to India. Croma, a popular electronics megastore in India from Tata, listed the Nexus 7 on its website for sale just a few moments ago with a shipping time of 7 working days.

Sadly, the tablet won’t be coming with its tempting price of $199 or roughly Rs 11,000 in the Indian market. Instead, the 16GB variant of the tablet will cost around Rs. 19,999, which is a bummer. At the moment, it is unclear whether ASUS and Google plan on launching the 8GB/32GB variant or even the 3G version of the tablet in India or not.

The Nexus 7 packs in a 7-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280×700, along with 1GB of RAM. The tablet runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, and is powered by a quad-core Tegra 3 processor. Other specs of the tablet include NFC, Wi-Fi, a 1.2MP front-facing camera and Bluetooth.

The Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 were not the only new devices unveiled by Google today. The company has announced new storage options for the Nexus 7 as well. The 16GB Nexus 7 will now sell for $199, while a new 32GB variant will cost $249.

Along with more storage, Google also added a HSPA+ radio to make the tablet more mobile. The HSPA+ version will come with 32GB of on-board storage and will cost users $299. Like the unlocked Nexus 4, the Nexus 7 can operate on 200 different network providers including AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States.

The Nexus 7 will also be available via T-Mobile for $199 on a tw0-year contract with 16GB of storage space.

Canonical has been working on brining Ubuntu to Android devices and other form factors for quite sometime now. On Friday, Canonical’s Commercial Engineering Director, Victor Palau, uploaded a video on YouTube of Ubuntu running on the Google’s $199 tablet, the Nexus 7.

The Google-branded-ASUS-manufactured Nexus 7 packs in 1GB of RAM, a quad-core Tegra 3 SoC from Nvidia, Wi-Fi and a 7-inch screen despite its low price point.

The video above is pretty short (21 seconds) but shows the Nexus 7 running Ubuntu with Unity desktop interface without any issues.

Canonical will be unveiling more information about Ubuntu for the Nexus 7 at its upcoming Ubuntu Developer Summit in Copenhagen to be held later this year.

Google’s lead Android engineer, Jean Baptiste Queru, has announced that Google has pushed Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean to AOSP (Android Open Source Project) today. In addition to Android 4.1.2 being pushed to AOSP, Google is also rolling out the update to the Nexus 7.

The Android 4.1.2 update will bring with it a much-needed landscape mode to the launcher, along with some performance improvements and bug-fixes. One major reason why Google might have rolled out Android 4.1.2 is because of a change in the power chips of one of the Nexus 7 variants that is not supported in Android 4.1.1.

Below is the full announcement from Jean -:

We’re releasing Android 4.1.2 to AOSP today, which is a minor update
on top of 4.1.1.

As a note to maintainers of community builds running on Nexus 7: please update to 4.1.2 at the first opportunity. Future variants of the grouper hardware will have a minor change in one of the components (the power management chip) that will not be compatible with 4.1.1.

The build number is JZO54K, and the tag is android-4.1.2_r1.

Enjoy,
Conley and JBQ

JBQ did not mention anything as to when the Android 4.1.2 update will be rolled out to the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus S. Even then, once Android 4.1.2 is synced to AOSP, it will be just a matter of hours before Android 4.1.2 based custom ROMs for all the AOSP supported devices will be available.

The Nexus 7 has been a runaway success for Google and ASUS. The $199/$249 price point of the tablet, Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and the killer specs of the tablet make it an irresistible deal. The Nexus 7 has managed to bring back Android as an OS back into the tablet market, and makes it look like a worthy (and cheaper) alternative to the iPad.

However, one major complain most Nexus 7 owners have is the low amount of storage space. Without a microSD card slot, Nexus 7 owners are only limited to the 8/16GB of on-board storage space, which is not enough to store all your movies and music. The lack of a 3G radio does not help matters much as well.

Now, it looks like Google will soon be releasing a 32GB variant of the Nexus 7. The 32GB variant of the tablet has shown up in quite a few inventory systems of online retailers and websites, thus confirming its impending launch. At the moment, it is unknown as to how much the 32GB variant of the tablet will cost. Some websites showed the retail price at around the $269-272, which if true will please a lot of people.